


keep your head cold, and your heart hot

by clandestine_clear



Category: Naruto, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Angst, Drama & Romance, F/M, Hold your butts because we’re in for a bumpy ride, Hurt/Comfort, Just two people reaching out, Pre-BNHA, Wanting to be heard, but will lead into canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-19 04:55:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29620935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clandestine_clear/pseuds/clandestine_clear
Summary: There’s a great loneliness inside them, threatening to spill out and burn everything in its way.
Relationships: Dabi (My Hero Academia)/Haruno Sakura
Comments: 36
Kudos: 69





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the lovely people in the BakuSaku and ShiSaku Discord for encouraging this idea!

“Thanks, doc. You really saved me there.”

Sakura smiled at the man sitting on the cot as she pulled off her disposable gloves. Her patient pulled his shirt and coat back on, covering up the freshly stitched shoulder.

“Just try to take better care of yourself,” she replied as she got up to walk him out. The man waved goodbye and walked out into the dark alley, the lights from the intersecting street helping to light the path out.

Once she closed the door, she leaned against it and let out a heavy sigh. It was another long night of fixing deep cuts and broken bones. Pretty typical given the type of patients she sees.

After all, it’d already been two years since she landed in this strange world.

The fight with Kaguya was quickly coming to a close when the goddess used one more trick up her sleeve and sent the medic through a portal. 

It was rough, being flung into a world so unlike her own. Tall buildings fitted with giant, bright screens showing moving advertisements. People wearing weird looking clothing. Even people who didn’t look like people and more like Orochimaru’s experiments.

But Sakura was resourceful and quickly learned about quirks and heroes and villains. How interesting to have turned up in this place of black and white, of justice and crime.

If there was anything life as a shinobi had taught her, it was all shades of grey. And everyone did what they could survive.

It took some time, but she was able to open this back alley clinic to treat those who couldn’t go to the city hospitals for one reason or another. It brought in enough to keep the lights on and supplies stocked, and gave her something to do besides agonize over how to get back home.

A familiar knock on the door startled her out of thought. She peeked through the eyehole before opening the door to see Dabi leaning against the frame. He smirked down at her before strolling past her and into the exam room. 

Irritated, Sakura quickly closed the door and followed after him. “Hey, you could at least wait to be welcomed in instead of walking like you own the place.”

“No need to get tetchy,” he remarked, touching the plant on the counter. He then plopped onto the nearby seat, legs stretched out as he slouched.

Sakura crossed her arms and looked down at him, cataloguing his frame. “Where did you burn yourself this time?”

“Who said I got burned?” He quirked an eyebrow.

“Why else would you be here?”

“Aw, don’t be upset,” he mockingly cooed, “just because I haven’t been by in a while.”

“I was actually hoping you’d never come back,” she grumbled. She grabbed her rolling chair and moved it to sit in front of him, kicking his legs out of her way.

“Ouch, Pink. If you keep talking like that, I’m going to think you really don’t like me.” The smirk on Dabi’s face widened as he took off his shirt. He bent his legs so she could move closer.

Sakura, distracted by the inflamed skin at the edges of his scars on his chest, replied, “We both know you don’t have any feelings to hurt. Now shut up so I can focus.”

She lightly prodded the tender skin, then green enveloped her fingers as she went about healing him. But only the unscarred areas. She had learned the hard way what would happen if she tried to heal the already deeply damaged areas.

A couple strands of hair fell over her face. Just as she was about to brush them away, she felt rough fingers brush against her cheek, tucking those loose strands behind her ear.

Taken aback, Sakura glanced up to see Dabi staring at her. The smirk was gone from his face, but she couldn’t tell what was going on behind his cold eyes. The green glow slowly dissipated from her fingers.

“What are you doing?” she asked. Her hands were still pressed against his chest.

He tilted his head, as if he was considering her question. His fingers still didn’t leave her ear, instead his hand moved to cup her face. The rough texture of his palm no longer startled her. She didn’t dare move, wary of startling the young man while he was quiet. 

As suddenly as he touched her face, his hand suddenly dropped to his side and he turned to look at a spot to the side of her head.

Sakura returned her gaze to his chest, the burn already treated and skin back to its normal pale colour. She slowly moved her hands to her lap and rolled away.

“Well if that’s it,” she said, breaking the silence, “I’m going to close up.”

Dabi continued sitting there, unmoving. 

She went about cleaning up the room. The box of gloves were put back into one drawer, bandages moved to another. She glanced at him, then took off her white coat to hang it on the hangar next to the exam room door. 

“Make sure you turn off the light and lock the door before you leave,” she said. Then she walked out of the room and into the hall.

As Sakura walked through another door to get to the stairs, her mind wandered. It wasn’t the first time his moods changed as quickly as a lit flame, but it’d been a while since she’d seen that vacant look in his eyes.

Even after all this time, there was a lot she still didn’t know about the dark haired menace still sitting in her exam room.


	2. first impressions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your warm reception of the first chapter! Hope you enjoy this one.
> 
> tw: graphic descriptions of some serious injuries

Sakura could feel the sunlight shining through the blinds, warming her face. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, then checked the bedside table for the time. Only a little before 10 but considering she didn’t go to bed until 4 the previous night, not enough sleep.

After stretching in bed, she got up and slipped her feet into her slippers. Then she looked around her room. Everything was the same as it’d always been. Nothing like her own room back home, but at least it was a place to return to after each day.

She walked into the connected bathroom and milled about her morning routine, brushing her teeth then washing the sleep off her face. Afterward, she picked out black training tights and a pullover hoodie from her closet.

Finally done with her morning routine, she walked out of the room, past her small kitchen, and grabbed the coat hanging near the entryway before heading down the stairs. As she made her way to her clinic, she hoped the exam room light was actually turned off this time.

Just past the door that separated the clinic from her living space, she could see the light was off. She paused in front of the room, seeing nothing out of place. Not like Dabi would make a mess, not after the last time she chewed him out for leaving bloodied bandages strewn around.

All he had this time were first degree burns. Which, when she paused to think about it, was odd. He didn’t usually come to her for light injuries like that. But then again, she could never follow his logic. That man always kept things close to his chest.

Still, at least she didn’t have to clean up his mess this time.

She stepped out of the front door and locked up, bypassing the frozen puddle that took up a good portion of the alley way. The sun shined brightly, helping to boost her mood.

“Ah, Sakura-san! Happy new year!” A frail voice called out.

She turned and saw Yamada-san from down the street walk towards her.

“Yamada-san, happy new year to you, too,” she greeted the old woman.

Yamada-san smiled brightly at the much younger woman. Her hand shook slightly as she reached to pat Sakura’s arm.

“Oh my, Sakura-san. I’ve told you many times to call me Keiko! You seem to be busy now these days. I feel like I see people walking in and out from that alley all the time.”

Yamada Keiko was one of the many seniors to live in this area of town. Due to a slowing birth rate and longer lifespans, there were a number of elderly people who couldn’t afford to live in the nicer neighborhoods and were forced to reside in the questionable ones. The location was also why Sakura was able to afford her building, on top of it being tucked away in an decrepit alley.

Sakura patted her hand and replied, “It gives me something to do and keep a roof over my head.”

“Oh, but you should still find time to take a break. You’re going to waste away your youth! And a beautiful girl like you should be playing when she can.”

One thing about Yamada-san was her busybody nature, but it was what made her endearing. Like the neighborhood grandma, watching over the residents and making sure they were happy and healthy. She was the one to temporarily take the scared, then 16-year-old in when she first landed here.

“I’m afraid I’m deathly boring, so I wouldn’t be much fun in the first place. And I have bills to pay, so no goofing around from me.”

“You know,” Yamada-san said, “there are programs available if you wanted to take classes. It would give you the chance to meet people your age.”

Sakura grimaced at this. “Yamada-san, you know there’s nothing a school can teach me that I already can’t do.”

“Oh, but I can’t help but worry.” The old woman leaned in closer to her and whispered, “Just because you’re a runaway doesn’t mean you can’t go through official channels and do honest work.”

That was what she first told the old woman, that she was a runaway. Who would believe a story that the reason she didn’t have legal documents at the time was because she came from a world of bloodshed and raging goddesses.

“Regardless, I like to think I’m doing ok. But enough about me, how’s your arthritis? Is it acting up again?” Sakura tried to deflect.

Yamada-san laughed, “No, no, I just saw you on my morning walk and wanted to check up on you. Actually, I’m on my way to play cards with old Ginzo so I should be on my way.”

Another thing about the elderly woman was her gambling habit. When her husband died, her grief led to regular appearances at gambling houses and she squandered whatever savings they had built up, forcing her to live in the old, rundown building down the street with the other elderly who barely scraped by. Almost like a poor man’s version of a nursing home, but without the nursing.

Sakura waved her goodbye then continued down the street. As rundown and dilapidated as the area was, there were still people who tried to make the best with what they had. Blue collar workers and prostitutes were walking home, grabbing breakfast from food stands that populated the street. She walked into the convenience store sandwiched between two noodle joints to grab a couple of onigiri and a bottle of water.

She ate while walking to the only place she could train in isolation. To Sekoto Peak, where she first met Dabi.

~❊~

Thinking back, Sakura couldn’t say whether it was due to bad karma or pure chance that she ran into him.

She’d been training in the mountain right when she opened her clinic, about a year since she landed in this world. The distance and elevation from the city were worth the privacy she could get to run through her exercises.

Just because she couldn’t find a way back home didn’t mean she should slack off in training.

Since her more devastating attacks had to take a backseat in this new normal, she worked on her endurance and speed. This may have seemed like a peaceful world in comparison, but she witnessed enough crimes in her neighborhood to know not to take it for granted.

She was running through katas when a blaze of blue flames flew her way. She dodged the quick succession that followed, running around and through the trees in the immediate area.

 _And this is why I’ve been training_ , she remembered thinking at the time.

While keeping an eye on the flames coming her way, she tried to sense for which direction they were coming from. Pinpointing the source of the attacks, she shunshin’d over to the dense set of trees and leaped up to a branch opposite from where a guy was standing, arms aflame.

Without giving him time to throw another ball of fire at her, she pushed off and lunged at him. To her surprise, he fell backwards out of her reach. Right as she was about to dive after him, he hurled another fireball at her face before he landed on his feet, forcing her to instead jump back and land on the ground.

Faced with her attacker, the first thing she noticed was the gnarly purple scars under his eyes and along his jaw and ears, down past his clavicles. The heavy jacket he was wearing exposed the same kind of scar running to the base of his palm while his left wrist looked normal in comparison. The piercings on the boundary of his scars almost looked like surgical staples. His tall and slender form only emphasized his frightening appearance.

The dark haired man stared right at her, no expression in his face, his dead gaze striking her cold. His off-putting appearance put her on edge, but she kept her head cool like her years of experience taught her.

So she feinted to the right, only to come up on his left with an arm raised for a punch. But he must’ve expected that because a wall of blue fire came up, forcing Sakura to double back. She didn’t expect the kick coming from her side, but thankfully she was able to block with her arm. The momentum pushed her a couple of meters away from him.

Sakura winced from the second-degree burns on her hand. She didn’t move away fast enough to avoid the fire completely.

“Having some trouble there?”

She lifted her eyes to look at her opponent. His mocking tone grated her nerves, but she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction getting a reaction out of her. He must’ve felt the frustration radiating from her because a smirk slowly marked his face.

“Not that I’m not enjoying this dance, but I’m not looking to share this place with anyone else,” the scarred man drawled. He stood straight, almost relaxed.

“Yeah, well, didn’t realize I needed to put my name down to reserve a spot,” she shot back. Sakura took the time to heal her hand, focusing her chakra on the blistered areas.

The man stared at the green glow, watching how the top layers peeled off and gave way to new, smooth skin.

“Interesting…”

Before he could finish what he was going to say, she rushed him. Her hit grazed his cheek as he tilted his head just in time. But he wasn’t fast enough to avoid the knee aimed at his torso, and he flew backwards, Sakura quick on his tail.

She spinned out of the way of another fire shot and kept following after him. He managed to right himself after tumbling to a stop. He swiped at her legs but she jumped up and twisted her right leg into a kick. He blocked with his left arm aflame and caught her shin on fire.

“Ah!” she yelped in pain and fell to the ground. She used the momentum to roll away, partly to create distance and partly to put out the fire climbing up her leg.

The pain was excruciating, layers of skin burned away and revealing bits of muscle. Her leg spasmed and she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out.

The man made no move to follow after her. Instead, he stayed crouched where he was, eyes focused on her movements. Based on the position of his hand on his side, she likely broke a couple of ribs.

Despite the pain of the burns, Sakura kept her eyes on the man, watching for his next move. When he did nothing, she moved her hands to her leg, enveloping the whole area in healing chakra. There was a risk of infection from rolling in the dirt but she couldn’t leave her muscles exposed much longer, not with the pain inhibiting her mobility.

The damaged parts of the hypodermis reconstructed itself, followed by the dermis and the epidermis. Gone was the injury and new, though slightly red, skin covered her shin and knee.

The left leg of her pants was now in tatters and the top of her shoe was partially burned. She knew she looked like a mess, with dirt dusted over her clothes and strands of hair falling out of her ponytail. But at least she was able to rough up the other guy.

“I know I broke a couple of your ribs, so you’re in no condition to fight,” Sakura called out. She slowly stood up, leg still a little wobbly as an after effect of the damage she took.

He lazily smiled and slowly got up to stand, hand still pressed against his side. “I’m not feeling too bad, actually. But that trick you did to fix your leg, that your quirk?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Ah, but you see, if you’ve got a healing quirk, then that changes the game.”

Caught off guard by his words, she asked, “What game?”

He started walking her way, forcing her to take steps back to maintain the distance between them.

“Hmm, well. At first, I thought you were just snooping around here. This is a restricted area, after all. But the fact that you can heal, that has value.”

“Who said I’d do anything to help you? You’re the one who attacked me!”

“You’re going to want to re-evaluate your choices then.”

Blue flames erupted, encircling them within a ring of fire. The heat pulsated and Sakura could feel sweat forming on the nape of her neck.

The terrifying thing about this situation was how quickly it changed. She couldn’t walk backwards anymore without getting burnt by the flames. She could manage a substitution, but there was no guarantee he wouldn’t be able to light up the whole area within seconds. Even if she were to take him out, the fire could still be blazing, keeping her trapped within them and in danger of passing out and dying from smoke inhalation.

But she still had some tricks up her sleeve.

Sakura stomped her foot down, creating fissures in the ground, breaking up the fire and putting some of the flames out. The man in front of her stumbled a little and she took that moment of distraction to jump out of the disappearing ring of fire.

A stream of fire was aimed right at her, but she anticipated the retaliatory move and rolled out of the way. She pushed off one foot to jump back right in front of the fire user and punched him in the face within just a blink of an eye.

He skidded some distance away, and a groan of pain could be heard from where he landed.

“Looks like I don’t need to re-evaluate anything,” she said, wiping her hands on the tattered remains of her pants.

What sounded like another groan slowly built to a chuckle and then wild laughter. Caught off guard, her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the injured man get back up to his feet.

A wild look crossed his face, eyes shining bright. The piercings on his face bled as the force of the hit had tugged on them too much. He spat out some blood in his mouth and grinned almost maniacally.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” he called out. Another laugh escaped him. “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”

Sakura didn’t know how to react to this sudden turn of events. Knowing her natural strength, that hit should’ve knocked him out. From her understanding of this world, while some quirks made some people almost indestructible, she didn’t think someone with a fire quirk would also be this physically hardy. She was starting to regret not putting chakra in that hit. This was getting too out of hand.

“Oh man,” he continued, “this is just too good. Too good to be true!”

He stalked towards her, swaying a bit. Knowing she needed to end this, she was ready to run up at him again when his arms shot out and huge waves of flames spread towards and around her within seconds. She jumped to the side but it was like he anticipated her movement and her path of retreat got blocked off by another wall of flames.

She was trapped.

Within the oppressing walls of blue fire, the shadow of his body got closer and closer until he stood right in front of her, body completely aflame. But he didn’t look bothered at all by the blisters that were starting to form on the exposed parts of his body.

When she first fell into this world, she promised herself she’d do whatever she could to survive, just to stay alive long enough to go back home.

There was really only one option left.

“What do you want from me?”

~❊~

The day Sakura met Dabi was a day to remember. For someone who had a flame quirk, his chilling aura was what really cut through her.

She was confident in her ability to defend herself, but that day made her realize she shouldn’t take the people of this world lightly. She might have certain advantages given the depth of her experience and the breadth of her skill set, but meeting Dabi proved to her that there were dangerous people everywhere.

That first encounter taught her that if she wanted to make it home in one piece, she would need to watch herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told myself I would limit the fight scenes in this story since I have no idea how to write one, yet here I am.
> 
> I’m doing a lot of off-the-cuff research on different kinds of injuries, so please excuse any inaccuracies! 
> 
> I’d love to hear what you think about this story so far. I hope you’re all as excited as I am in exploring this world.


	3. a typical night

In all honesty, the deal she cut with Dabi wasn’t a bad one. All he asked for was medical treatment whenever he stopped by, and he wouldn’t burn her to a crisp.

As much as she would’ve preferred to stay away from the man — she’d later find out he was only about 3 years older than her — he didn’t give her too much grief. He was normally detached and uncaring about what she got up to, as long as she would heal the burns that popped up on his body. 

He stayed out of her business and she stayed out of his. Though that was starting to change in their recent meetings. 

Sakura curled into her chair and raised a hand to the cheek he touched, remembering the feel of his palm against her face. His hand was cold, and the scars at the base of his palms felt rough and bumpy.

She shook her head to rid the thoughts of him from her mind. Leaning back, she tilted her head to look at her ceiling, focusing on the discolored circle at the corner near the wall of her living room.

This place was a shithole compared to her home in Konoha. The building would creak due to an unstable foundation and the water took forever to heat up. She thought about decorating the interior to make it feel more like a home, but her heart ached when she thought about being stuck here. The only reason she even rented this place was because it was a roof over her head, she could operate a clinic out of it, and it was dirt cheap. 

Glancing at the time, she pulled her hair up into a ponytail then moved to clean up her dishes from her dinner. It was almost opening time.

Her clinic was open at odd hours, which worked for the types of patients she saw. While she kept daytime hours 4 days a week for working families and the elderly in the surrounding area, she made most of her money through a more unsavory audience.

Underground quirk fights were a profitable business, and teams were willing to pay a pretty penny to have their fighters healed to tip top shape. Yakuza also looked for quality, under-the-table treatment and were willing to honour the “no fighting” rule within a 3-kilometer radius around her house.

With the kind of money she was bringing in, she could afford a much nicer house in a safer neighborhood. But she didn’t want to draw attention from law enforcement so she stayed here, where no officer would willingly step foot. And who else would help the residents in this area, who didn’t have the means for medical care?

Selfishly, she also didn’t want to get attached to a comfortable lifestyle. It was more motivation for her to figure out how to get back home if she lived in a dump.

But that motivation was starting to get to an all time low. Two years had flown by and she was still stuck here, not knowing how the final battle with Kaguya ended. Not knowing whether her friends survived or died, whether there was still a home to come back to.

Mood soured, Sakura finished cleaning up her dishes and headed down to the clinic. 

She locked the door that separated the clinic from her living space then unlocked the front entrance and turned on the light outside the door. That was the usual signal to show she was open.

The waiting area was set up so that the chairs were lined up against the wall. A coffee table sat in the middle with a couple of old magazines on top. She turned on the TV situated at the back corner, the evening news update just starting. The TV was a new addition when some guys, antsy from waiting for their turn, started getting a little rowdy. It helped to distract patients on the busier nights when she couldn’t get to them right away.

She settled into one of the chairs facing the door. When she was doing small renovations on the space to turn it into more of a clinic, she decided against putting in a front desk. She didn’t employ anyone else so it would’ve only been a vanity item. And all her patient medical information was stored on a secured tablet. 

The technology in this world was impressive and efficient. She called in a favor from a hacker she treated to help her encrypt and protect patient data once she was in a place to get this clinic opened. It helped to ensure confidence in her competency among her regular patients, and it meant she didn’t have to worry about managing boxes of files all on her own.

A shuffling sound from outside brought her attention to the front door, which opened to reveal her first patient of the night.

“Hey, Kid-sensei!” 

While Yamada Keiko was the first person to help her, Giran was the first person she helped in this world.

“What did you get into now, Giran-san?” she asked exasperatedly.

He let out a chuckle, “Ah you know me, just making connections. I got caught in a crossfire, though, so if you don’t mind.” He gestured to his right hand with bent fingers.

She nodded towards the direction of the exam room and he followed her in.

She met Giran while prowling through the night. She was grateful to Yamada-san for taking her in, but she couldn’t stay with the old woman forever. And so she scoped out the neighborhood, getting a feel for the kinds of characters who lived here. Trying to figure out how she could make a living and be more independent.

He was sprawled out in one of the many alleys in this town, almost beaten to death. Sakura, unable to turn away from someone who needed help, went right to work in healing him. The most worrisome part was the potential for brain damage given the bash she found at the back of his head. She wasn’t positive he would survive with how long he’d been in this state before she came across him.

Thankfully, he wasn’t as bad off as she initially thought. He only had a concussion and it ended up being easy putting him back into one whole piece.

He was so impressed by her abilities and tried to recruit her to work for this one client he had, but she turned him down. They kept in contact her first year here because it was convenient to have connections as deep as his around, and she helped him with some odd jobs for easy cash. Once she felt ready to put her clinic idea into motion, she worked with him to source medical supplies and put word out of her services.

“Things still working out for you here? ‘Cause if not, I know a guy who’s been looking for an in-home doctor. He has a small kid he doesn’t want going outside, but could use some help,” he asked while hopping up on the examination table.

“I do more good out here than staying cooped up for some rich guy’s personal use.”

“Yeah, doing good fixing up gangsters and shit.”

“Hey now,” she jokingly took offense. “Those gangsters help fund the good I do here. Supplies aren’t cheap, especially with how much you charge in broker’s fees.”

He waved his good hand to placate her, then handed her his broken hand. She gently took it and started correcting the direction his fingers should be in, numbing the pain with her chakra.

“Not gonna lie, but it still kind of freaks me out how you can fix shit like this the way you do.”

“Really? I thought healing quirks weren’t that uncommon.”

“They don’t heal the way you do. They help make recovery a lot easier, sure, but I haven’t seen anyone bring someone back to one piece the way you do.”

She hummed in consideration but didn’t say anything more. Once the fingers were in the correct position, she started healing the breaks, feeling the bones fuse back to how they should look. 

“Wow,” he murmured in awe. He wiggled his fingers and felt no pain, just normal movement. “You sure you’re just a kid? Not some old lady pretending to be a kid? ‘Cause this is next level, here. How’d you even know how to fix stuff like this in the first place?”

“Watch who you’re calling kid. Or an old lady,” she ground out. 

When she first healed Giran, after she turned down the job, he felt he owed her so he offered her one favour as repayment. She ended up asking him to help her get the necessary documents to be registered as a legal adult. She wouldn’t be able to get a bank account or lease an apartment without legal proof of age of majority. And at the time, she was 4 years away from coming of age.

He whistled as he still checked out his newly functional hand. “You amaze me, Kid-sensei. Hard to believe you’re only, what, 15?”

“I’m almost 18,” she grumbled at him, taking real offense to his jab at her small, thin frame. “Now if you’re done harassing me about my age, I have other patients who could be coming in.”

He laughed on his way out of the exam room. “I kid, I kid. I’ll send payment for this treatment tonight.”

“How about next time I need a restock, you cut out the broker’s fee?”

He waved in agreement and walked out of the building. She closed the door behind him and let out a small smile.

Giran may be a money-loving criminal, but he had his own code of honor. For all the shit he gave her about her age, he didn’t treat her like a fool he could take advantage of. She wouldn’t say they were friends, but she could trust he wouldn’t play her.

And so her night continued. A couple of guys walking in here and there to get broken bones, stab wounds, any physical malady healed.

During a lull, she took a quick trip to her room to grab a cup of water and walked back down to a still silent clinic. When she looked at the clock in her waiting room, it was just after 3, so things should be quieting down now. She considered closing a little early, but decided against it in case a last minute emergency came up.

Dozing slightly while sitting in the waiting room, a couple of slow knocks woke her up. Wondering why the person didn’t just walk in, she went up to the door and opened it. As soon as she did, a familiar dark haired man fell forward and into her arms.

“Dabi!” 

Sakura grasped onto him so he wouldn’t fall to the ground. He wasn’t wearing a jacket and his body felt too cold. Something wet seeped through her clothes and when she leaned back a little, her entire front was covered in blood.

She quickly hefted him up and carried him to the examination table in the exam room. Running back to her front door, she turned off the porch light, locked the door then ran back. She cranked the space heater next to the table up to its highest setting, hoping it would heat up fast enough to warm his body.

A pained groan left Dabi’s mouth as blood started seeping out onto the table. His eyes were clenched in pain, arms hanging out.

“Shit.” She grabbed scissors from the drawer to cut through his shirt, which was already tattered and heavily stained with blood.

Just as she brought them up to him, his blue-tinged hand roughly grabbed her wrist. She glanced up and saw his eyes drilling into her.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing,” he gritted out.

“I need to get your shirt off to assess the damage. Let go.”

A moment passed before he released his grip. Sakura went to cut through his shirt to reveal the mess that was his torso.

Incisions criss crossed across his body, as if someone dragged a knife through him. One ran from the scarred area under his right pectoral up to his shoulder, with a piercing barely hanging on to a lifted flap of skin. The biggest slash looked like an attempt at bisection, and it looked like the missing piercings from his midsection were forcibly ripped off from a hit. Burns also decorated his body, though one of them seemed to have helped cauterize the cut on his left bicep.

“What the hell did you get into this time,” she murmured, hands glowing over his body to analyze the situation. He stayed quiet, aside from the occasional groan, finally passed out from the pain. She made sure he stayed knocked out by laying her hand on his forehead and sending electric pulses using her chakra to signal his brain to start and stay in its deep sleep cycle for the time being.

She grabbed gauze from a different drawer to wrap around most of his wounds to help slow the bleeding. Then she got to work, starting with the most concerning cut along his midsection. It was deep, deep enough to see muscle, but it looked like it didn’t hit any of his internal organs. She felt a couple of broken ribs, but they weren’t close to piercing anything so those would have to go last. It was the slashes across his body she was the most concerned about.

Stitching tissue back together was a delicate process, especially for wounds as deep as his. First she had to stem the blood flow using chakra. Then she had to clean the area with saline to lessen the risk of infection. After, she used her chakra to repair the blood vessels so blood could return to the area and help stimulate collagen growth, which then formed new tissue. Finally, the new tissue grew enough so that a scab formed.

It took an hour to heal the biggest incision, then she moved to the one across his pectoral. She carefully removed the gauze and the piercings in the general area and tossed them on the counter so they wouldn’t get in her way. And she repeated the process of stitching his body back together, one incision after another, one burn after another.

By the time she was finished, it was well into the morning. It took hours to make sure Dabi wouldn’t bleed out and that everything was functioning as they should, having gotten to him before hypothermia could set in.

She leaned her hip onto the table and took inventory of the room. A trail of dried blood came from what she could see of the waiting room. Blood covered the bottle of saline sitting on the counter, and bloodied gauzes were haphazardly strewn across the counter and floor.

He was still deep asleep, legs hanging off the table while his arms laid by his side. 

Her eyelids felt heavy, but she still took the time to look at him and the various scabs that decorated his body. She knew he didn’t care about how scarred his body got as long as he could still go about his life. And as a one-woman team, she didn’t have time to waste in healing all the wounds completely before moving into the next one. But it pained her to have done work this sloppy. 

Now, though, she still had enough chakra to go over and clean up her work. As her hands passed over his torso and arms, scabs gave way to smooth skin. Even the already scarred areas were back in their usual condition. 

As soon as she could count her work as done, exhaustion hit her like a chakra-laden punch to the chest. She collapsed onto the rolling chair and finally let her thoughts run away.

Dabi was a tough guy and his quirk was, in a way, an ultimate defense. Who could’ve managed to get close enough to him to do this sort of damage? With how clean the cuts look, it had to have been done with a knife of some sort.

Her gaze shifted back to the sleeping man and she moved to touch the hand closest to her. Just before she reached him, she hesitated. But exhaustion lowered her inhibitions and she placed her hand in the space of his loose grip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates are going to be a lot slower now. I work a full time job that takes up a lot of my time and mental energy. But I’m doing what I can to keep chipping away at writing. I just can’t commit to a normal update schedule. 
> 
> In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I’d love to know what you think about this development.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this is a promising start! Please let me know what you think 😊


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